Neuroscience, Orthopedics, Pediatric Services, Spine

A multidisciplinary spina bifida team all in one place

Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, has created multidisciplinary clinics so children with spina bifida — and children with other complicated conditions — can see all subspecialists in one place during a single two- or three-hour visit. A child with spina bifida needs care from a number of specialists. As…

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Neuroscience, Pediatric Services

Surgical Theater: Exploring the brain in 3D

A powerful new technology gives neurosurgeons at Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, an incredible tool for planning complex surgeries and then sharing that information with patients and families in virtual reality (VR). The technology, called Surgical Theater, is capable of combining CT, MRI, fMRI and PET imaging into a…

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Adult Services, Neuroscience

Perfusion scanning allows more time to save more brain

Time saved is brain saved, and in recent years we’ve gotten some more time to save more brain. In 2018, the American Heart and American Stroke associations updated their guidelines to say perfusion scanning can make more patients with ischemic stroke and large vessel occlusion eligible for treatment up to 24 hours after symptoms first…

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Neuroscience, Pediatric Services

Collaboration leads to convenience and a range of viewpoints in pediatric neuroscience care

Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, brings pediatric neurosurgery, neurology, neuroradiology, pediatric rehabilitation and neuropsychology together in a collaborative role. “The goals are to provide excellent and convenient care for the patient and to bring different disciplines together,” said Vinay Puri, M.D., child neurologist-in-chief, Gretchen C. Rounsavall Medical Director in…

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Neuroscience, Pediatric Services, Plastic Surgery

A multidisciplinary team approach to craniofacial care

Norton Children’s has offered families multiple surgical interventions to address complex craniofacial pathology for more than 30 years. Paul Tessier, M.D., the father of craniofacial surgery, planted the seed by training surgeons who practiced in Louisville. Advanced surgical technology and a new streamlined experience for families at Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL…

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Adult Services, Neuroscience, Pediatric Services, Sports Health

A baseline concussion test aids sports concussion diagnosis and treatment

A baseline concussion test provides data to measure functional change in an athlete, making it crucial to concussion care, according to Tad D. Seifert, M.D., a neurologist and sports concussion specialist who is director of the Norton Neuroscience Institute Sports Neurology Center. In addition to offering information about the athlete’s behavior when healthy, baseline concussion…

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Adult Services, Neuroscience

Stroke in young people increasing and mostly preventable

Stroke in young people has been increasing, with adults as young as in their 20s at risk. This largely is due to more young people having risk factors previously associated with the older population: a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes and sleep apnea. Women on birth control who smoke and experience migraines with…

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Neuroscience, Pediatric Services

AFM diagnosis is rare — Consider a spectrum for acute weakness

When a child presents with acute, sudden weakness, a neurologist needs to consider a broad spectrum of different diseases, according to Michael L. Sweeney, M.D., a pediatric neurologist with Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine. “If someone is presenting with weakness that came on over the course of hours, it’s…

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Adult Services, Neuroscience

Interventional treatments for episodic migraine

Interventional procedures may provide an option for patients with episodic migraine in cases where oral medications may be contraindicated because of comorbidities or because they don’t provide sufficient relief. Many of these treatments do not have adequate studies to support their use, particularly to the degree that regulatory bodies and insurers would permit. There are…

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Neuroscience, Pediatric Services

Neurosurgeon gives pediatric epilepsy surgery candidates’ families decision-making tools

The choices parents have to face when considering elective brain surgery to treat refractory epilepsy can be overwhelming. Pediatric neurosurgeon Ian S. Mutchnick, M.D. M.S., and the refractory epilepsy team at Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, give patients and families clear, visually intuitive information about the patient’s epilepsy and…

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Adult Services, Neuroscience

New drugs for MS patients

In the past year, patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) have gotten three new treatment options. Mavenclad (cladribine) is the most groundbreaking of the new drugs, in my opinion, due to its unique mechanism of action. Another drug, Mayzent (siponimod) became the first drug approved for active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). Active…

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Adult Services, Neuroscience, Research

One-year results of LAANTERN epilepsy study show seizure improvements

A new study published in Epilepsy Research found 64.3% of patients with various forms of drug-resistant epilepsy in the LAANTERN (Laser Ablation of Abnormal Neurological Tissue Using Robotic NeuroBlate System) registry were free of disabling seizures, reaching Engel I, after one year. Sixty patients were enrolled in the study specifically for epilepsy treatment. Forty-two reached…

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